Christians, who are God's chosen people - the Jews (who don't believe in Jesus) or Christians?

Question

Do you think a Jew who doesn't believe in Christ will be saved anyway? If so please give explanation, thanks!

Answer 1

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6)

Answer 2

God chose the Jewish people, based on His friendship with Abraham. He reiterates this fact several times in the Book of Deuteronomy.

Once Jesus came to bring the New Covenant, as promised at Jeremiah 31:31-34, the Jews had a choice: be obedient and accept the Covenant (since they had broken two prior ones -- see Exodus 32:19, the first Covenant; and Jeremiah 3 and Hosea, referred to as the Mosaic Covenant); or reject it. Sadly, most rejected it, but a remnant believed in God's promises, saw that Jesus is the Messiah, and believed. Jesus then commanded this remnant to preach the Gospel to "all the nations" (i.e. Gentiles). Why? So God could gather together ALL of His children -- Jew and Gentile -- into ONE people (John 11:52).

Consequently, the Jews who refused the New Covenant were not God's children (John 1:10-13 & John 8:44), nor were they considered "chosen"; but the Jews who did accept it were "chosen," spiritually reborn and were thus God's children. The same is true with Gentiles today. Therefore, God's "Chosen People" are best described as "The Bride of Christ," i.e. those who believe Jesus is Messiah -- Jew AND Gentile.

Please note that this concept is COMPLETELY different from the unscriptural teaching known as "Replacement Theology." These people believe the Gentiles have replaced the Jews as God's chosen.

Answer 3

we as Christians believe in the same God and the same revelation they do, plus the New Testament. As the Holy Father once pointed out, Christians are all "spiritual Semites" (spiritually united with the Jews and the faith of Abraham). Basically, Christians are what you could call "Messianic Jews", that is, we are "adopted" Jews who believe Jesus was the long awaited Jewish Messiah…the Savior. We have been grafted into the family tree. Of course, our faith has grown considerably from there as well. While we have significant theological differences with traditional Judaism (primarily revolving around Christ), our understanding of morality is of the same basic cloth.

We should never forget our roots. We should never forget that Jesus was a Jew (who attended synagogue), as were his mother and adoptive father, all the apostles and even the first pope (Peter). Almost all of the first "believers" were Jews, and they all attended synagogue as well. While it is true that some Jews called for His execution (particularly those threatened by Jesus as a potential leader who threatened their hold on power) , the Catechism reminds us that every human who has ever lived bears responsibility for his crucifixion. We are all responsible.

As Christians, we believe that, in rejecting Jesus, most of the Jews rejected their own Messiah, as prophecy foretold (Isaiah 53:3-4, Hosea 11:4). As the apostle Paul points out in Romans 11, this is part of a mystery, wherein God used their lack of faith-response in order to bring the Gentiles (non-Jews) into His family. While there continue to be Jews who come to accept Jesus as the Jewish Messiah throughout history, we prayerfully hope for the day when the Jews will most fully come to accept Jesus and be "grafted back into the tree" (which St. Paul also writes about in Romans 11).

Answer 4

The Jews still have a covenant with Heavenly Father. It was just expanded to include followers of Christ. When a church leader asked a rabbi for permission to give a prayer. He conditioned it upon refraining from closing in the name of Christ. So he closed in the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The rabbi was pleased, and the leader knew that he had in fact closed in the name of the Savior.

Answer 5

b/c most Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah, they have been blinded.

(rom.11.11... "through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles".)

now salvation has come to the Gentiles (us).

"blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
And so all Israel shall be saved" (rom.11:25-26)

at Jesus 2nd coming, when the saints are raptured, all will go to the Temple Mount.
Jesus will then lift the veil from the eyes of the Jews (the veil has blinded them for 2000 years). they will then know their Messiah ... & they shall be saved.

it is all God's plan that everyone ... Jew & Gentile... should have the opportunity of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Answer 6

Technically Jews are...but what are Christians besides Jews who accepted Jesus and the savior?

Answer 7

Maybe. The Bible clearly states that the only way into Heaven is to be a Christian, however I think a special exception would be made to the Jews since God made a covenant with them. Anyone from else from another religion would be out of luck.

Answer 8

Jews are the chosen of Yahweh, and Christians are the European branch of Yahweh worshippers who didn't want to follow the Hebrew laws, nor give up many of their pagan beliefs of "savior Gods" and "virgin births".

There is no such thing as Hell...its a scare tactic created by the Holy Roman Empire.

Answer 9

According to many modern rabbinical scholars the Christian concept of salvation from sin has no equal in Judaism. Judaism does not believe that man, by his nature, is evil or sinful and therefore has no need to be “saved” from an eternal damnation. In fact, most Jews today do not believe in a place of eternal punishment or a literal hell. The Hebrew root word for “sin” is chayt, which literally means to “miss the mark.” It is a term commonly used in archery, of one who “misses the mark” of the bulls eye. When a Jew misses the mark, and occasionally falls into the sin of failing to fulfill the laws of God, the belief is that one can obtain forgiveness through prayer, repentance and doing good deeds.

The Book of Leviticus (17:11), the third Book of the Torah, clearly gives the prescription for forgiveness. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” The Temple sacrifice was always the centerpiece for Jewish atonement. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the Levitical High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the Mercy Seat. Through this yearly act, atonement was made for the sins of all Israel, but the Holy Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, and for almost 2000 years Jews have been without a Temple, a sacrifice, and a means of atonement.

The Brit Chadasha (The New Covenant or New Testament) teaches us that the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ, came to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24) precisely at the time preceding the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. “But when Messiah arrived as a High Priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more complete Tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered into the Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been made common, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Messiah, Who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God?” (Hebrews 9:11-14).

The New Testament teaches that all of us, Jews and gentiles, have “missed the mark.” (Romans 3:23) All of us are under the consequences of sin, and “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) We are all in need of salvation from our sin; we are all in need of a Savior. The New Testament teaches that Jesus the Messiah is “the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father”, but through Him. (John 14:6) And most importantly, “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which it is necessary for us to be saved." (Acts 4:12).

For the Jews, Jesus the Messiah has come as High Priest, and through His once-for-all sacrifice for sin offers complete atonement to all people. For there is “no distinction” between Jew and gentile. (Romans 10:12) Yes, the Jews are God’s chosen people, and through them come the Jewish Messiah to bless all the nations of the earth. And it is only through Jesus that Jews can find God’s complete atonement and forgiveness.

Recommended Resource: Salvation is from the Jews: Role of Judaism in Salvation History from Abraham to the Second Coming by Roy Schoeman.

Answer 10

Sorry for the heckling, but here goes anyway:

What kind of good and loving parent would choose some of their kids and condemn the rest? Is God really displaying a good example by choosing a single race and totally ignoring the rest, essentially condemning them to hell?